From left: Trish Roberson, Jane Carter-Getz, Susan Robinson.
No
pressure, more sales
Maria Frasca, Frasca Jewelers
Maria
Frasca of Frasca Jewelers sells to female clients the way she enjoys shopping —
with a low-pressure, friendly vibe and lots of conversation. “We chat, we try
things on, and sometimes we drink coffee or champagne,” she says of most
customer encounters. “It is an organic process.”
Frasca
has stores in Palm Desert, California, and in El Paso, Texas — “a small winter
resort and golfer’s paradise,” she explains — so many of her clients are
affluent and wear fine jewelry. The trick to moving merchandise, she says, is
to offer fashion-forward collections like Roberto Demeglio, that are casual
enough to wear with resort attire both day and night. Another helpful move?
Wearing what she sells.
“Because
we tend to be in our jewelry, women are drawn in to our store to see what is
new,” she says. Plus, the store’s strategic move of not carrying watches also means Frasca has more female shoppers.
Many of
them are not career women, however, so they’re a tougher sell. Working women
“are used to making fast decisions, have their own money, and
they know they deserve [a reward like jewelry],” she observes. “So we work hard
to make the others realize that they don’t always need to have a man buy a
piece of jewelry for them, even though our industry still advertises that way.”
Frasca’s top takeaway for selling to women: Make women realize that if they are already buying designer
clothes, handbags and shoes, why wouldn’t they buy themselves designer or
high-end jewelry? “The price points are similar, yet it is still a foreign
concept for many of them,” says Frasca.
Be
relatable, build camaraderieTrish Roberson, Roberson’s Fine Jewelry
After 28 years of
running Roberson’s Fine Jewelry in Little Rock, Arkansas, Roberson’s husband
wanted to relax — but she had no intention of slowing down.
“He said,
‘I’m ready to retire,’ and I said, ‘I’m ready to get into it!” she recalls.
That was 10 years ago, and today Roberson’s business has flourished into an
enterprise of jewelry experiences for women who love to collect.
Through
trial and error, Roberson learned to try events other than trunk shows for
female clients who “will spend big,” she says. “If it feels like you are always
trying to drag people into the store, then maybe you should try an experience.”
Her trips
to meet designers in Los Angeles, New York and Houston, Texas, have helped her
build a compelling camaraderie with many female shoppers. The reason behind the
strategy? Psychology. For many women, purchases are emotional, and women want
to hear meaningful stories and information about pieces, whereas men “just want
to know the price,” says Roberson.
“Our
jewelry is art, and I’m taking them to meet Picasso,” she remarks. “Start
thinking outside the store.”
Roberson’s top takeaway for selling to women: Be relatable and make women comfortable
— show them you support what they support. Also important: using women’s
intuition. Three years ago, Roberson flew a strong-willed designer to town to
meet with a genteel client, but the chemistry wasn’t right. Roberson
masterfully intervened through subtle de-escalation tactics, racking up five
repurposing jobs that day. “I told the designer, ‘Let me lead now,’ and that
paved the way for us to do more work for her, her friends, and her family,”
says Roberson.
Listen
well, offer what’s wearableJane Carter-Getz, Belle Cose
Jane Carter-Getz’s onetime kitchenware
store, Belle Cose, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, mushroomed into a quintet of shops
merchandising gifts, homeware and clothing before it finally started selling
jewelry. Carter-Getz’s first foray into fine was a trio of rose-cut diamond
bangles in sterling and gold, which she priced at $5,000 apiece. Within three
months, the shop owner had sold 15 of them.
Today,
jewelry accounts for two-thirds of sales. The store’s specialty is styles that
women feel comfortable wearing daily and buying for themselves. “Our jewelry
isn’t meant to be locked away and worn only on special occasions, but to be put
on and worn to work, dinner, or picking up your kids at school,” she says.
And while
training in how to sell to women isn’t a routine occurrence — or all that
necessary, given that 95% of the staff is female — attentiveness is a ritual.
“We put a lot of focus on listening to the customer,” adds Carter-Getz.
Carter-Getz’s top takeaway for selling to women: Get to know each customer and
interact with her on a personal level. “I think our female customers appreciate
being heard, and the understanding we bring to trying to find the right fit of
jewelry to highlight her personal style,” says Carter-Getz.
Model it
and make shoppers try it onSusan Robinson, Susan Robinson Fine Jewelry
Susan Robinson’s early career was a mix of
banking, real estate, and legal recruitment until marriage gave her an entrée
into fine jewelry sales. Her husband’s family owned a jewelry store, and after
helping them with their business, she secured her own six-foot jewelry case in
a well-regarded clothing store in Tyler, Texas — a move that helped her build
an inventory and pave the way for the 5,500-square-foot Susan Robinson Fine
Jewelry store she operates today. A key component of her business’s success is making
sure that sales associates wear the jewelry the store offers.
“It’s the
number one rule!” says Robinson. “Customers see the jewelry on me and my staff
and just want it. We get the jewelry on the customer, put them in front of the
mirror, romance the stones and give a little education, and they say, ‘I’ll
take it.’”
Unlike
men, who, according to Robinson, prefer watches, a more technical sale, and to
make sure they are getting value, women can experience the thrill of wearing a
jewel and enjoying how it feels and makes her look.
Female
sales associates, she adds, inherently have a better understanding of other
women’s thought processes, because they share the passion for the product.
“Woman-to-woman
sales are so much easier,” notes Robinson. “It’s easier for women to know what
other women like. And we can try it on and show customers how it looks on us.
That is a great way to sell.”
Robinson’s top takeaway for selling to women: Get the jewelry onto shoppers’ bodies— on their ears, arms, wrists, necklines and fingers. Then put them in front of
the mirror and “let the jewelry do its magic!” says Robinson. “‘You must try it
on’ is our motto.”Article from the Rapaport Magazine - December 2017. To subscribe click here.